NEC ND-3500A Doesnt read any DVD-R's

[Miklebud]

I bought this drive, used by the way, a few months ago. I bought alone so I could play Oblivion. It reads commercial, non -/+R DVD's just fine. All the movies I've played worked fine.
Recently, I wanted to try Vista out, which meant I'd need to burn a DVD-R for the boot disk.
Long story short, I've bought 3 different kinds of DVD - R's, and not a single one has been readable. If in insert the DVD-R, and double click on it in "My Computer" it says:

"D:\ is not accessible
Incorrect function"

I've used thus far for DVD-R's:
Taiyo Yuden 8X
Maxell 8X
Sony 16X

Two of those DVD-R's are on the "Recommended Media" PDF on NECusa.com.

Any suggestions? Or should I spend another 30$ on a working DVD-+RW?

 

[Miklebud]

I guess I should buy a reputable NEW DVD drive, huh? 😛

 

[dogmir]

dont know what to tell you my 3550a reads anything i put in it...i also have modded firmware....so i can also burn most 8x media at 16x which is nice....but have put several of these in various systems with now problems reading dvd-r

 

[Miklebud]

So what you're telling me is...this isn't the first drive to have problems reading dvd-r's. 😛 So I should probably buy a new one... Or buy the Vista RC1 for $5 and hope that their commercial DVD would work. 😛

 

[Juno]

Originally posted by: dogmir
dont know what to tell you my 3550a reads anything i put in it...i also have modded firmware....so i can also burn most 8x media at 16x which is nice....but have put several of these in various systems with now problems reading dvd-r

gimme the modded firmwire, i got the exactly same burner.

 

[Bozo Galora]

http://www.micheldeboer.nl/firmware/
http://tdb.rpc1.org/
http://liggydee.cdfreaks.com/page/

 

[Bozo Galora]

um, the vista dvd download is a bootable iso, so you must do a BURN IMAGE TO DISC.

 

[myocardia]

It sounds like whatever software you're using isn't burning the ISO properly.

 

[mshan]

NEC-3500a is a superb burner (it burns at least good on pretty much any media), but is only a so so reader: http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=86

 

[Miklebud]

Well I have yet to actually write a disc with this drive... So at the moment, it's a 'so so' reader, and a horrible writer. 😛

Should I update the Firmware (I'm on the latest official NEC 2.1b)?

 

[mshan]

I would guess that you are probably fine with the quality 8x media.

16x media may be problematic, even for some newer drives (I think people kinda get 12x speeds maybe).

 

[Joony]

my 3550A has the same problem, most of my burned DVDs can't be read but works fine on my buddy's generic Fry's dvd burner.

Haven't updated the firmware though, i'll take a gander.

 

[MX2]

Hmm...interetsing. I just had a NEC burner that would only read pressed DVD's too. Once in awhile it would read burned data DVD's. Wouldnt read CD media at all. It found it s way to the trash🙁

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